This application relates generally to an arrangement of gas turbine engine components that facilitates sealing a turbine engine.
Gas turbine engines are known and typically include multiple sections, such as a fan section, a compression section, a combustor section, a turbine section, and an exhaust nozzle section. The compressor and turbine sections include blade arrays mounted for a rotation about an engine axis. The blade arrays include multiple individual blades that extend radially from a mounting platform to a blade tip.
Rotating the blade arrays compresses air in the compression section. The compressed air mixes with fuel and is combusted in the combustor section. The products of combustion expand to rotatably drive blade arrays in the turbine section. The tips of the individual blades within the rotating blade arrays each establish a seal with another portion of the engine, such as an engine control ring or a blade outer air seal, at a seal interface. The sealing relationship between the individual blade and the other portion of the engine facilitates compression of the air and expansion of the products of combustion. Maintaining the integrity of the components near the sealing interface helps maintain the sealing relationship.
As known, cooling air removes thermal byproducts from the engine, but many components are still exposed to extreme temperatures and temperature variations. Exposing a single monolithic component to varied temperatures can result in uneven expansion of that component, which can affect the integrity of that component by, for example, disrupting the mounting of the component or causing the component to fracture. Disadvantageously, components made of materials capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures often fail when exposed to varied temperatures, and components made of materials capable of withstanding varied temperatures often fail when exposed to extreme temperatures.